in 1966 graham nash took a train from casablanca to marrakesh, and the experience moved him to write about the sights, sounds and feelings in what became the song named after the train, “marrakesh express.” the line that stands out to me is “had to get away to see what we could find,” a sentiment shared by many artists and musicians who traveled to morocco in the sixties. read the lyrics and listen to the song below, and imaging you’re traveling trough deserts and palm groves with mountains on the horizon and the spirit of discovery in your soul…

hi denisse! thanks for all the suggestions - you'll be happy to know that we actually didn't go to casablanca or fes, our team went to marrakesh and essaouira. we will have tons of stuff on essaouira coming up. thanks!!

one of our favorite trends for spring are wrists piled with bracelets and bangles- brass, silver or gold, it doesn’t matter, and the more the merrier is a key motto here. mix delicate gold leaf patterns with bulky mesh and brightly painted flowers for texture with a touch of the unexpected. this look has a multi-cultured and exotic feel, giving the illusion that you’ve traveled the world collecting pieces from different places along the way to display like artwork on your arms. give a simple summer dress a mysterious edge and turn a casual daytime look like shorts and a tee into rocking evening attire – just layer on some bracelets and you’re good to go!

April kicked off with a beautiful Easter weekend and our direct business kicked off with a beautiful visual – Sweet Jasmine which is out story for April.

Here’s the mindset:

A girl’s life captured through accidental snapshots, a memoir…
Reminiscent of a girl who has just come back from a well-travelled journey in Asia. She’s brought back with her a beautiful wise story full of depth and emotion. She’s pinned her thoughts in photos, incidentals that are placed together creating a feeling of solitude and luminosity.

Sweet jasmine was born through Asian watercolor landscape and simple floral illustrations. Think apple branches, lotus flowers, daisies and doves, made up of cool blues, royals, pinks and purples as well as minty greens and Chinese red. Pretty/sweet elements are toned down with crude/rough collages of graph and ripped paper. Branches and pencil detail contribute to a flux of affection.
Portraits of flat shot clothes have charm, while beautiful wallpaper backdrops animate a soft feminine feel.

when we did a survey on the blog earlier this year we asked you all to answer the question “if the free people blog were a travel destination, where would it be?” topping out the responses was india, and a close second was morocco…which was interesting because we had just finished shooting our april catalog there! morocco is a mythical place with an incredibly rich culture and fabled cities like tangier, the vibrant gateway to africa, casablanca, made legendary by the 40s hollywood movie named after it, and of course marrakech, where our team stayed.

“all moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist…it is just an illusion we have here on earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever.” – kurt vonnegut

a fellow fp girl told me about illustrator daniel egneus and in looking through the work on his website i found myself lost in the realm where fantasy and reality meet. egneus combines dark, edgy imagery with pops of watercolor and careful and realistic detail with sketchy lines to create images that can only exist in your wildest dreams… but leave you wishing they were real.

if you look deep into these, this is actually one of the best peice of arts i have ever seen, especially from someone who is not educated. This clearly shows he is a complete genious. All these mean something, something that may go beyond a normal humanbeings way of thinking...

Its official Isabel Lucas is a true Free People style icon. Her cherub beauty and wholesome girl next door attitude brings a sparkle to our everyday whenever we see a picture of her.

She’s come a long way since her Home and away Days, don’t you think? Gracing numerous magazine editorials – French Jalouse, Australian Vogue, Nylon, styled by Erin Wasson for an American Elle story, staring in blockbuster movies and seen hanging out with super hot guys (Adrian Greiner). Geezzzzzzz you kinda make me envy you!

But we love her, and it’s only fair that we give tribute to her style because I must admit I think I stalk her every day.

“for the past 2 years i have visited a beautiful mound of earth that i have come to call “the hill.” each time i have come to the hill a new story is told to me as if the hill is my stage and the locals are the actors in this daily play.” – photographer, paul octavious